Willie Tarleton: Industry leader just keeps on leading

Willie Tarleton, director of transportation services for the Midland (Texas) Independent School District, has made 29 years of contributions to yellow transportation and has completed a decade of distinguished service as NAPT's Region IV director.

Love the Bus 2012

School bus fuel tax exemption preserved

Repeal of the exemption was under consideration in the Senate Finance Committee. The National School Transportation Association called on committee members to defend against the effort, which association officials said “would have been tantamount to imposing a tax increase on private school bus transportation providers.”

Thomas Built Buses seeks ‘Driver of the Year’

Students in kindergarten through sixth grade are invited to submit essays nominating their favorite school bus drivers for the manufacturer’s seventh annual Children’s Choice School Bus Driver of the Year essay contest. Entries must be postmarked by June 30.

Burtwistle: District funding pressures not expected to ease

As president of the largest school bus contractor in the U.S. and Canada, First Student’s Linda Burtwistle has a keen perspective on the range of issues impacting the pupil transportation industry. She recently shared her insights with SBF Executive Editor Thomas McMahon.

Carey Paster joins National Express Corp.

The school bus contracting veteran has been appointed to the newly created role of vice president of mergers and acquisitions, where he will be responsible for furthering National Express’ presence in the passenger transportation market. Paster previously held roles with FirstGroup America and First Student.

OSBA shares mission, goals with provincial officials

Representatives of the Ontario School Bus Association discuss this information during meetings with the senior policy adviser to the education minister and with an MPP. A meeting with the minister of transportation covers commercial driver testing, among other issues.

TBI information to be added to Pa. bus driver’s manual

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is in the process of including language in the agency’s school bus driver’s manual on the symptoms of traumatic brain injuries and concussions, and the procedures drivers should follow if a student sustains such an injury. Jan McKnight of PennDOT discusses with SBF what led to this change in the manual and when the new version is expected to be available.

EPA awards grant to N.Y. contractor

Chestnut Ridge Transportation receives the grant to replace and/or upgrade the school bus fleets it operates for East Ramapo and Ramapo central school districts. The funding is awarded as part of the NSTA's "Go Yellow, Go Green" national campaign, which encourages cleaner operation of school buses.

Funding restored for Calif. school transportation

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed Senate Bill 81, which replaces the $248 million that was cut for the service with an across-the-board revenue limit reduction at all school districts in the state for the 2011-12 fiscal year. Mike Rea of the California Association of School Transportation Officials tells SBF this is welcome news, but he notes that more work must be done to restore funding for the long term, and he shares the association’s efforts to this end.